Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

Archives for May 2009

How to Kill a Fox, to Save a Mouse and a Pademelon

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A NEW paper by Mike Letnic from the University of Sydney adds more weight to the argument that the best way to save Australia’s small native rodents, in particular the dusky hopping mouse, is to protect the dingo because it also preys on foxes and foxes are more damaging to the small cute and furies than the dingo.  

Landholder Jim Inglis reckons the scrub tick does a better job than the dingo at controlling foxes in higher rainfall regions – foxes that kill the pademelons on his property.

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Defining the Greens (Part 8)

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“What’s clear is eco-activists and their allies will do anything to avoid talking about their real goals, which have less to do with cleaning up the environment than with pulling down capitalism.”

‘What Green Means’, Investor Business Daily, http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=326414989713648

Parts 1-7 of this series are archived here https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/tag/philosophy/

Picture shows the impact of crabs burrowing on the beach, Yeppoon, Queensland, May 6, 2009.  Click on the image for a clear, larger, better view.

It May Get Even Drier Along the Murray

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THERE has been no general decline in rainfall in Australia due to global warming.   But it is possible that the Murray Darling Basin, once regarded as the food bowl of Australia, will get even drier.  

When farmers say that the region has never been as dry in their lifetime they are correct.  However, the data clearly show that over south eastern Australia the first half of the 20th century was much drier than the second half and the recent ‘drought’ is a return to the conditions of the early 20th century.  Also, the recent dry period is not yet as dry as the period from about 1935 through 1945.

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UN Boss Not Happy with Australia

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R.K. Pachauri, Chair of the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, says he hopes that other developed countries are not as vulnerable as Australia to business pressures and lobbies working against stiff carbon emissions targets.  Read more here.

Changes Announced to Australia’s Proposed Emissions Trading Scheme

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Oppose the ETS
SINCE Kevin Rudd became Prime Minister of Australia we have signed Kyoto and there has been a commitment to an Emissions Trading Scheme – what his government calls a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme.

It was to start next year, but according to a surprise announcement yesterday, the scheme has been delayed a year.

In announcing the delay the Prime Minister described it all as “hard” and “difficult” and “complex” policy made harder, more difficult and more complex as a consequence of the global financial crisis.

I am not sure the financial crisis makes this obviously complex financial intervention any more complex – but certainly less politically palatable.

When well known geologist and climate skeptic, Bob Carter, reported on his presentation to a parliamentary committee considering the proposed legislation just two weeks ago he wrote:

“The committee mostly needs help with fashioning politically feasible solutions to the incredible mess that they now find themselves in.”

Yesterday’s announcement that the scheme will now be delayed, and significantly changed with a fixed price period and an increasing in the target for emissions reduction to 25 percent by 2020, suggests the government is grappling with the issue of what Professor Carter described as fashioning feasible solutions.

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